Lycodon cathaya WANG, QI, LYU, ZENG & WANG, 2020
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Lycodon cathaya
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Huaping wolf snake Chinese: 花坪白环蛇 |
| Synonym | Lycodon cathaya WANG, QI, LYU, ZENG & WANG 2020 |
| Distribution | China (Guangxi: Huaping Nature Reserve) Type locality: Huaping Nature Reserve (25.62521N, 109.91376E (DD); ca 1000 m a.s.l.), Longsheng County, Guilin City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. SYS r001542, adult male, collected on 20 July 2016 by Jian Wang. Paratypes. SYS r001630, adult male, collected on 2 September 2016 by Jian Wang from Huaping Nature Reserve (25.62667N, 109.91351E (DD); ca 850 m a.s.l.). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. can be differentiated from its congeners by the combination of the following morphological characters: (1) dorsal scales in 17–17–15 rows, smooth throughout; (2) supralabials eight, third to fifth in contact with eye, infralabials 9; (3) ventral scales 199–200 (plus two preventral scales), subcaudals 78; (4) loreal single, elongated, in contact with eye or not, not in contact with internasals; (5) a single preocular not in contact with frontal, supraocular in contact with prefrontal, two postoculars; (6) maxillary teeth 10 (4+2+2+2); (7) two anterior temporals, three posterior temporals; (8) precloacal plate entire; (9) ground color from head to tail brownish black, with 31–35 dusty rose bands on body trunk, 13–16 on tail; (10) bands in 1–2 vertebral scales broad in minimum width; (11) bands separate ground color into brownish black ellipse patches, similar arrangement in a row along the top of body and tail; (12) elliptical patches in 3–6 scales of the vertebral row in maximum width; (13) ventral surface of body with a wide brownish black strip, margined with a pair of continuous narrow greyish white ventrolateral lines. Comparisons. The detailed comparisons among all Lycodon congeners are given in Table 1, with distinguishing characters marked in bold. Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. is relatively close to L. futsingensis (Figs 3B, 5C, Figs 3A, 4, 5A, B, Fig. 2 in Wang et al. 2020) and L. namdongensis. However, the new species possesses significant morphological differences: (1) 10 maxillary teeth (vs. MT 12–15 in L. futsingensis), bands on dorsal body and tail link with each other and separate ground color into ellipse patches (vs. bands on dorsal body and tail separate with each other in L. futsingensis), venter line on ventral body margined with a pair of continuous ventrolateral line (vs. ventrolateral lines discontinuous, interrupted by black patches in L. futsingensis); (2) ten maxillary teeth (vs. MT 12 in L. namdongensis), nine infralabials (vs. IFL ten in L. namdongensis), two postocular (vs. PtO 3 in L. namdongensis), three posterior temporals (vs. pTMP 3 in L. namdongensis), ventral scales 199–200 (vs. V 218 in L. namdongensis), dorsal body with 31–35 dusty rose bands (vs. dorsal body with 23 greyish cream bands in L. namdongensis). Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. can be further distinguished from L. ruhstrati (Figs 3C, 5D), which used to be confused with L. futsingensis, to which it is morphologically similar (Pope 1935; Vogel et al. 2009), by the following morphological characters: (1) dorsal scales smooth throughout (vs. dorsum with keeled scales); (2) subcaudals 78 (vs. subcaudals ≥ 90); (3) bands on dorsal body and tail link with each other and separate ground color into ellipse patches (vs. bands on dorsal body and tail separate with each other); (4) ventral with a brownish black venter strip margined with a pair of continuous greyish white ventrolateral lines (vs. brownish black venter strip absent, and ventrolateral lines discontinuous, interrupted by black patches). Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. can be significantly distinguished from L. albofuscus, L. banksi, L. butleri, L. capucinus, L. cardamomensis, L. carinatus, L. cavernicolus, L. davidi, L. fasciatus, L. flavozonatus, L. gammiei, L. gibsonae, L. gongshan, L. gracilis, L. liuchengchaoi, L. meridionalis, L. multifasciatus, L. nympha, L. orientalis, L.paucifasciatus, L. rosozonatus, L. semicarinatus, L. septentrionalis, L. sidiki, L. subannulatus, L. subcinctus, L. synaptor, L. tristrigatus and L. zoosvictoriae by its smooth dorsal scales (vs. dorsal body with keeled scales). By having dorsal scales in 17–17–15 rows, Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from L. alcalai (DSR 19–17–15), L. bibonius (DSR 19–17–15), L. chrysoprateros (DSR 19–17–15), L. davisonii (DSR ?–13–?), L. dumerilii (DSR 19–17–15), L. fausti (DSR 19–17–15), L. ferroni (DSR ?–13–?), L. kundui (DSR 15–15–15), L. muelleri (DSR 19–17–15), L. philippinus (DSR ?–15–?), L. solivagus (DSR 19–17–15) and L. stormi (DSR ?–19–?). From the remaining 18 congeners, Lycodon cathaya sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from L. ophiophagus, L. pictus, and L. zawi by having fewer maxillary teeth; from L. anamallensis, L. effraenis, L. flavicollis, L. flavomaculatus, L. hypsirhinoides, L. laoensis, L. striatus, and L. travancoricus by having fewer supralabials; from L. anamallensis, L. aulicus, L. effraenis, L. flavicollis, L. flavomaculatus, L. hypsirhinoides, L. laoensis, L. multizonatus, L. ophiophagus, L. pictus, and L. striatus by having fewer infralabials and from L. mackinnoni by having more infralabials; from L. aulicus, L. flavicollis, L. flavomaculatus, L. hypsirhinoides, L. jara, L. laoensis, L. mackinnoni, L. multizonatus, L. sealei, L. striatus, L. tessellatus, and L. tiwarii by having an entire precloacal plate (vs. precloacal plate divided); from L. jara, L. mackinnoni, and L. striatus by having more ventrals and from L. pictus, L. tessellatus, and L. tiwarii by having fewer ventrals; from L. anamallensis, L. flavicollis, L. hypsirhinoides, L. jara, L. laoensis, L. flavomaculatus, L. mackinnoni, L. multizonatus, L. striatus, L. tessellatus and L. zawi by having more subcaudals and from L. ophiophagus and L. pictus by having fewer subcaudals; from L. effraenis and L. sealei by the presence of a single loreal (vs. loreal absent). |
| Comment | Lycodon cathaya is a sister taxon to the clade composed of L. futsingensis and L. namdongensis (with low statistical support). |
| Etymology | The specific name cathaya is a noun referring to the monotypic botanic genus Cathaya Chun & Kuang, 1958. The single species C. argyrophylla Chun & Kuang, 1958 is an endangered relict plant, and was firstly discovered from Huaping Nature Reserve by the investigation team of Sun Yat-sen University. In memory of the predecessors and their contributions on the taxonomy of Chinese flora and fauna, Wang et al. dedicate this species to the plant genus and its describers. |
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